


Genesis of an Outlaw

by Angelicasdean



Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: No Slash, Young Arthur Morgan, Young Dutch van der Linde, Young Hosea Mattews
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-03-29
Packaged: 2019-12-26 08:51:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18279821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angelicasdean/pseuds/Angelicasdean
Summary: Arthur is officially an orphan.





	Genesis of an Outlaw

Arthur is officially an orphan, he supposes he’d been living like one for a few years now, ever since his momma died. But his father, though terrible, was his family. Now he has none, no one to go back to. He feels likes he’s choking up, not because his father just died in front of his own two eyes.

No, the bastard deserves it. The tears filling his eyes are at the realization that he is well and truly alone, for the first time, he’s on his own. All he has is his father’s hat, their dog and a few dollars along with the pictures he’d collected over the years. Their house had been taken by the law, Arthur thrown to the streets.

He manages to steal a gun from some drunk man he’d stumbled across, spends the few dollars in his pocket on the cheapest food he can but for him and Copper. His new home is the dark alleyways, spending the day wandering aimlessly, searching for some kind of guidance, any type of work.

No one wants a fourteen-year-old and his dog as their employ, no matter how hard Arthur promises to work.

One night, he meets a kid like him, a bit older, seventeen. He calls himself Lui, but his real name is Arnold. Arthur doesn’t understand why he calls himself that, but he doesn’t ask, happy to finally have a friend, no matter how weird he is. Lui gives Arthur food and plays with Copper, stays a few days while he ‘works’. Arthur learns that Lui is a pickpocket, he’s new to town after he fled from Armadillo when the men there started hunting him down.

Lui teaches Arthur how to steal, helps him learn how to find food in the garbage, tells him that he never really has to shoot a man if he’s convincing enough.

Arthur learns quick, stealing fruit and vegetables from the stores, robbing the drunk and running quickly into the alleyways where anyone can get lost. Lui leaves, though, and Arthur tells himself he doesn’t really care. Lui says he needs to go towards Chicago, will sneak onto a train and go to his nephew there. Lui gives Arthur a pair of shoes before he leaves, tells him to take care and scratching Copper behind the ears.

Arthur is yet again, alone. But he can take care of himself, take care of Copper. Still, he’s only a kid, he yearns for any family, the world is cold and scary when you’re so clueless.

Arthur goes along, surpassing his fifteenth birthday and celebrating by stealing a few bread rolls and a can of peaches from the general store. He gives Copper half of what he’d gotten, singing to himself a cheery tune he remembers his father once singing.

Eventually, Arthur gets in a fight. He’s pickpocketing this man, running off when he realizes that someone had seen him, he runs into the alleyways, in his haste making himself lost. He gets cornered and tries to dissolve the situation, but the man would not have it, grabbing Arthur by the arm and dragging him towards the jail. Arthur kicks and punches as hard as he can, biting on the man’s hand to let him go and knocking him unconscious, he breathes deeply, not missing how satisfying it had been to finally,  _finally_ be able to take out his anger. His wrist and knuckles hurt, but he doesn’t dwell on it, quickly scavenging whatever he can get from the man, taking a pistol he held and his rings, silver watch, a small bottle of brandy and a few dollars.

In the end, Arthur returns victorious to Copper, buying him some treats and himself a can of salmon. Fanciest he’ll get out here. He eats it happily, sipping on the brandy and cleaning his newly acquired pistol.

He sets up a pretty solid routine, stealing from men while they’re shopping in the market and from drunken men at night while they stumble out the saloon. He joins a few fights, coming out with nothing but a few bruises and a couple of dollars richer.

He runs like that for months, sleeping under newspapers and scraping by, but he feels braver than he’d ever felt with his father by his side. Running around Texas’ streets and making a name for himself as a notorious troublemaker, often regarding as a mini version of his father. He hates that he’s affiliated by his father, but he does no action to stop the talk. He grows stronger despite his unstable diet, the frequent fights he enters make him quick on his feet.

He kills his first man, shoots him in the head after he hurt Copper for no reason, called him a dirty mutt and kicked him. Arthur doesn’t think twice about killing him, doesn’t feel bad, feels scared when the law starts to chase him. He runs, carrying Copper with him as he runs out of Texas, stealing a horse he doesn’t know how to ride yet.

He’s unstable as he spurs the horse, holding Copper on his lap as he ducks from the gunshots around him. Eventually, they stop chasing him and he pulls over, setting Copper to the ground as he shakes from the adrenaline. He thinks he’d just made himself wanted, killing a man, stealing a horse and running from the law. He can’t help but laugh at the prospect of being a worse version of his father, while he’s a murderer, Lyle Morgan sits in hell being a Larcenist. Doesn’t matter now, he can’t just go back and say sorry, the world just doesn’t work that way.

He learns how to make a fire, learned how to aim and how to skin a rabbit.

 

It’s a sunny day, Arthur is lazily riding the horse he stole, named her Jailbait. Copper is sitting calmly on Arthur's lap, tongue sticking out as Arthur tries to get to the next town.

He rides East, trying as much as he can to conserve food enough for him and Copper, sleeping beside fire under the cover of the sky. He learns that he loves nature, his situation might be shit, but the beautiful greenery around him make it bearable. Copper seems to like it too, running around happily whenever Arthur sets up a fire, chasing flies and butterflies.

After three days of travel, Arthur finds the first tracks of humanity. He rides in what he assumes is a city, asks around and learns that he is in Louisiana.

He explores as the sun sets, running around the city, using the last of his stolen money to buy a room in a hotel and a bath. He cleans up, sleeps in a bed for the first time in almost a year, Copper sleeping beside him.

The next day, he leaves to find a good enough alleyway he can set himself up in. He finds out that a local gang had been running around, a bunch of no-good kids like himself formed an alliance, he was tempted to try and find them, ask them to take him in. But he doesn’t, instead, he heads where they don’t, stealing small things, trying to keep his head down low as he slowly returns to his routine, stealing, shoplifting and general mischief.

 

On a particularly clear night, he had decided that he can manage more, he can probably pull off a robbery. He can aim as good as a drunk, but as Lui said to him, you don’t need to shoot, you just need to convince whoever you’re robbing that you _will_.

And so he grabs his father’s hat and tells Copper to stay put, giving him a few peaches before leaving, pistol in hand. Last time he’d used it, he’d killed a man, but he doesn’t plan on that now, not today at least.

He finds a man, well dressed enough and alone in an alley and walks towards him brimming wit anxiety. “Hey, you,” He calls, raising the gun unsteadily, “give me all your money, mister,” he demands, voice as venomous as can be. The man looks at him in amusement and Arthur falters, “I said...” Arthur tries again, “Give me whatever you’ve got a-and no one has to get hurt,”

“Son, put the gun down,” the man says gently and Arthur frowns, he steps back as the man raises his hand, “Put down the gun,”

“No,” Arthur says, confused at how calm the man is. Maybe he _can’t_ pull off a robbery just yet, how stupid of him.

“Kid, you don’t want to do this,” The man warns and Arthur fills with dread, his hand shakes as he holds the gun, who can this man possibly be? A lot of things, Arthur realizes. A lawman, some dangerous murderer or simply just brave enough to call on Arthur's bluff.

“I-I _do_ ,” Arthur says quickly, shifting on his feet.

“I think...” another voice says and Arthur freezes, body turning cold as he feels the metallic barrel of a gun push against his temple. He swallows, holding the gun firmly, he’d gotten himself into a real mess now, “my friend here told you to put your gun down,”

“Oh, god,” Arthur breathes, looking at the man on his left, he swallows again, slowly lowering his gun, “Don’t kill me, mister,” Arthur says after a moment, “I-I was just trying to make a living,”

“How old are you?” the first man asks, pushing himself off the wall he’d been leaning against and stepping towards Arthur, who backs away, “We won’t hurt you, that right, Dutch?”

“Sure,” the second man, Dutch, replies, a small smirk appearing on his face as he lowers the gun, “So, answer his question, kid,”

“I-I’m fifteen, sir,” Arthur stammers, and Dutch nods, looking towards the first man.

“What’re you doing, robbing men off the streets like that?” The first man asks, tone calming as he steps closer to Arthur, who flinches at the question.

“No one wants to hire me, sir,”

“What about your family?” Dutch asks and Arthur shakes his head, “huh, you got anywhere to stay?”

“I sleep in the alleyway with my dog, sir,” Arthur answers and Dutch nods again.

“Would you like to have some place to stay?” the first man asks, “My name is Hosea, Hosea Matthews, and this is my friend, Dutch Van Der Linde, we have a gang together and don’t mind taking you in while you figure yourself out,” Hosea offers calmly, “then maybe you can learn how to hold a gun right,”

Arthur considers it, he could join them, but he could join the boys his age too. Hosea and Dutch don’t look too intimidating, well, Dutch looks pretty intimidating but Arthur's seen worse. They could help him, teach him like Lui. Arthur could have someone to call a friend again, maybe even look up to at some point.

“Can… can my dog come along?” Arthur asks and Hosea smiles, nodding as Dutch steps closer. They walk with Arthur out of the alley and he leads them to where he’d left Copper. They tell him to get whatever he has, which isn’t much, and follow them on his horse.

While they ride out of Louisiana, Arthur tells them his story in exchange for theirs. They tell him they’re impressed that he’d managed to kill and steal unscathed for so long, tell him he won’t need to be alone anymore since he’s got them. Dutch tells him that their gang is not made for violence. It isn’t really much of a gang in Arthur's opinion. Only two men and a kid, how much can they _really_ do?

But he doesn’t speak as Dutch preaches about how they can live free. Hosea escorts Arthur to where they camped, two tents set up around a fire. He promises Arthur that they can buy him a tent soon, but for now he’ll have to share with someone. Arthur doesn’t tell him how much it means to him that they even thought about buying something for him, but for extra measure tells them he has no money to spare.

Hosea tells him he need not worry, handing him a wad of cash and telling him that he can work with that till they get more. Arthur doesn’t ask what ‘get more’ means, pocketing the money.

“You know how to read, kid?” Hosea asks, Arthur shakes his head, “Figured, tomorrow, if you’d like, I can start teaching you how to read,”

Arthur nods, feeling a bit excited at the prospect of tomorrow for the first time in what seems like forever. As he tucks himself into the tent, he smiles, feeling maybe, _just maybe_ , his luck had finally turned.


End file.
